


Perfect tea time

by LesbianDragon_LD



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Byleth eats like a wild animal and no one can tell me otherwise, Edeleth, F/F, Oblivious My Unit | Byleth, Teacher-Student Relationship, gay panic edelgard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21525544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianDragon_LD/pseuds/LesbianDragon_LD
Summary: The day her professor invited her for tea was the day that Edelgard found out that the only feral and scary thing about the Ashen Demon is how she drinks her tea and eats her pastries during tea time.And Edelgard is absolutely horrified.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 20
Kudos: 256





	Perfect tea time

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a real story but also the fact that I see Byleth as a feral and oblivious mercenary who could probably fish with her own teeth and that can, in canon, eat everything and anything placed in her plate. So this is my fix to those super cute and polite in-game tea times.  
> And also loosely based on loving to see El being cute when she is disappointed or offended at small or dumb things.  
> All this because I love the dynamic of elegant dork x feral dork.  
> Sorry not sorry.
> 
> Oh, and rated T for a couple of dumb adult jokes, but nothing special really.

Edelgard couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this nervous about a date.  
Well, it wasn’t exactly a date.  
Reality was that professor Byleth had asked her to share a cup of tea with her, as she did with almost all her students on occasion, and Edelgard was finally able to say yes. It wasn’t anything special, really. Even Hubert had already been invited by their professor once and when Edelgard had inquired him about it, he explained that professor Byleth had merely wanted to discuss his goals with him. That had made Edelgard relax, as the first time professor Byleth had asked her to share a cup of tea out of the blue (long before Hubert’s experience), Edelgard had become so confused and incredibly flustered that she had to lie her way out of it. Since then she had decided to say yes the next time her professor would ask her, and now there they were: alone in the courtyard during the afternoon, as Edelgard sat at the table mentally preparing herself while waiting for Byleth to finish boiling the water.  
So it wasn’t a date.  
But it sure felt like one.  
Edelgard couldn’t stop fidgeting her fingers as she repeated to herself that this was just class related, and not a real romantic date with her crush. But upon glancing at her professor while she made the tea and seeing her smile sweetly at her, the heir to the Empire screamed internally.  
Finally, Byleth brought their tea to the table and joined Edelgard, and the younger woman could swear she was close to exploding from the anxiety she tried to hide. She was lucky that her professor was so incredibly oblivious, really.

“Thank you for treating me to tea, professor” Edelgard politely started, “is there a reason you wished to talk to me? To discuss my goals or discuss training sessions, perhaps?”

“Actually, I was thinking we could just have a break from classes. Just enjoy ourselves and get to know each other better” Byleth nonchalantly replied, and Edelgard could feel her panic rise as her face started to match the color of her cape.

“Is…is something the matter?” Byleth asked, concerned upon seeing Edelgard’s face. Even her obliviousness had limits, it seemed.

“N-no, nothing is wrong! T-thank you again, my teacher.”

As Edelgard slightly stuttered the last words, Byleth assured her she didn’t need to thank her, and thanked her for keeping her company. Naturally, Edelgard only became even more flustered at that.  
Trying to take her mind off of some less pure thoughts, Edelgard decided to drink her tea in hopes of calming down. She reached for her cup, and recognized a familiar scent.

“Oh…my teacher, this is…”

“Bergamot” Byleth finished her sentence, “Hubert told me it was your favorite. I trust he’s right?”

“Yes, he is! I absolutely love it!” Edelgard let out, excited, before she took a sip of her tea. 

She was surprised to taste her tea and realize it was well done. It wasn’t bitter and yet the flavor was still strong enough. It was truly perfect.

“Professor, I think you have a natural talent…I’ve seen servants who can’t brew tea this well!” 

Byleth thanked Edelgard for her words, and Edelgard looked up to her to see Byleth take a spoon of honey to sweeten her tea. Edelgard couldn’t help but smile at how cute it was that someone like professor Byleth enjoyed her tea sweet. And then Byleth scooped another spoon of honey. And another. 

“My teacher, are you feeling well?” Edelgard couldn’t help asking, and Byleth eyed her, as confused as she was surprised.

“I…I am. What makes you ask that?” 

As Byleth’s words left her mouth, Edelgard saw her add another spoon filled with honey.  
Oh.

“With all due respect, my teacher…isn’t that… well, how should I put this? Isn’t that a tad too much honey for your tea?”

Byleth stared at Edelgard. Then at her tea. Then back at Edelgard.

“Hm, yes, I suppose…” Byleth quietly murmured, and stopped adding honey.

Edelgard sighed. She was sure it couldn’t get any worse.  
Until Edelgard saw Byleth dunk a sweet cream filled cookie in her tea.

“My teacher!” Edelgard cried out, absolutely horrified.

Byleth looked at Edelgard as if she was mad before she took a bite of her now wet cookie and a sip of her tea with bits of cream floating atop it.

“What?” Byleth inquired when she saw Edelgard pinch the bridge of her nose.

“I’m sorry, I…my teacher that is…it’s not my place to judge but that is absolutely appalling” Edelgard slowly dragged out, embarrassed but unable to let professor Byleth’s behavior slide, “I know you are not familiar with tea time etiquette but this is just…this is just feral!”

Byleth raised an eyebrow.

“You know, Ferdinand made a similar comment…and Lorenz just walked out on me. Is it really that bad…?”

Edelgard slowly nodded, and Byleth fell silent.  
Edelgard couldn’t read Byleth’s expression, and for a moment she felt like her professor could be genuinely sad over the ordeal. Guilt consumed her, so Edelgard tried her best to remedy the situation;

“It’s just that it’s hard for us to watch, after we were taught such rigid etiquette since we were little. I would have never been allowed to do such a thing.”

Byleth merely looked Edelgard in the eyes.

“Try it.”

“Excuse me?” Edelgard interjected as she couldn’t believe her professor would propose such an idea.

“Just try it” Byleth repeated again, as she held out a cookie similar to the one she was eating for Edelgard to take.

“I possibly can’t, it’s too sweet for me” Edelgard lied as her cheeks burned red.

“I’ve seen you eat sweeter when you have sorbet after lunch” Byleth protested, before she dunked the cookie in Edelgard’s tea and swirled it in it.

“PROFESSOR!” Edelgard desperately cried out, but it was too late as her tea was now contaminated with sweet cream.

Byleth told her to try it yet again, but Edelgard stubbornly stared at her tea like a child staring at their plate while refusing to eat their vegetables.

“I swear it’s not that bad-“ Byleth started before Edelgard interrupted.

“It’s an abomination! It just…it takes away the tea’s flavor completely, it’s unnatural!” Edelgard huffed, but Byleth refused to yield.

When Edelgard saw Byleth reach for the honey jar, she panicked.

“Please stop, my teacher! I can’t take more of this! I’ll try it if it makes you stop, before you end up sick with stomach aches in the infirmary…”

Byleth stopped, and she leaned in on the table, one hand propping her chin as she stared at Edelgard expectantly.

“Try it” Byleth almost chanted, and Edelgard squirmed in her seat as her eyes darted back to the tea.

She hesitated.

“Professor, I-“

“No more stalling, Edelgard” Byleth interrupted, and Edelgard almost choked upon hearing her call her by her name. Had the situation been different, Edelgard would have melted and dream about it for days. But now, it was just too surreal, like a completely different kind of dream.

“Tell you what,” Byleth continued, to encourage her “we’ll make it a dare. If you try it, you win and you can make me try something, and I’ll have to try it with no questions asked.”

The thought was way too appealing to Edelgard as she imagined her professor tasting…well, very inappropriate things to taste.  
As she tried to pull those dirty thoughts out of her head, she took a deep breath.  
She decided that even if not for the dare, she still needed to impress Byleth at all costs.  
Refusing to have her professor think of her as weak of heart, she took the cup like a drunken man taking a beer at a tavern, and she drank a huge gulp.  
Yet she made a strange expression as set the cup down.

“Heavens, it feels strange. My mind is so confused tasting bergamot tea that tastes like pastries. My beloved bergamot…ruined…”

Byleth laughed at Edelgard’s melodramatic cry, and Edelgard was in absolute awe at the rare yet beautiful sight of her professor laughing whole heartdly.

“Took you long enough to try!” Byleth teased after, “but now it’s my turn. Do your worse, I have a strong stomach!”

Edelgard ignored what her brain actually wanted Byleth to taste as she thought for a moment about something more appropriate to tell her. Until she got an idea.

“Do you still have tea leaves, professor?”

Byleth answered yes, still confused.

“Then I’m going to make you a cup, and you’re going to drink it properly.”

“That’s no fun” Byleth whined as Edelgard smirked.

“It’s what I’ve decided” Edelgard simply stated as she boiled more water to make another cup.

Byleth tried to protest as Edelgard made more tea, but the younger woman wouldn’t budge. When a new cup was done, she took it and sat right next to Byleth.

“Now, you hold the cup like this” Edelgard explained as she showed Byleth the proper way to follow the etiquette, “and you hold out your little finger, like this…”

As she placed the cup on Byleth’s hand and guided her to hold it properly, Byleth begged Edelgard to let her use something to sweeten the tea up a bit.

“No, my teacher. Absolutely not. You need to feel the flavor at its best!”

With that, Byleth begrudgingly took a sip.

“Well?” Edelgard asked her as Byleth gulped and set the cup aside.

“It tastes like weird warm water.”

“That’s preposterous, my teacher” Edelgard laughed, “you only feel that way because you are too used to exaggeratingly sweet tea.”

“Oh, how about this, then?” Byleth let out as she reached for the honey, and Edelgard was getting scared of what idea might come out of her that time.

“We’ll make the best of both worlds…sweet but not too sweet” Byleth declared as she mixed a reasonable amount of honey with the tea. 

She sipped on it, and made a pleasant expression. Then she handed her cup to Edelgard, who was surprised but still drank from it. It was surprisingly decent, delicious even.

“A mixture of both…that is perfect for both!” Edelgard smiled, and she noticed Byleth smiling as well, “we have our perfect tea to satisfy both parties and…this was very fun. I haven’t done something this stupidly fun in ages. Thank you, my teacher.”

“You’re most welcome…but please, never make me drink raw tea ever again” Byleth pleaded as they both got up to clean their table.

“Only if you swear to never make me drink whatever you call your little mixtures ever again, my teacher” Edelgard replied, as she helped Byleth clean.


End file.
